Oracle Acquires Next Technik for Field Service Management Solutions
Oracle announced it was acquiring Next Technik, a prominent provider of field service management solutions tailored for customers of Oracle’s NetSuite business software. The integration, which equips NetSuite customers with advanced field service management capabilities, will enable businesses to digitize and simplify critical operations such as scheduling, dispatch, inventory, and asset management. The ultimate goal, Oracle executives said, is to bolster productivity and ensure customer satisfaction.
Evan Goldberg, founder and executive vice president at Oracle NetSuite, said field service organizations are often hampered by manual processes that impede productivity, erode CX, and affect revenue. In a press release, he said, “To assist our customers in overcoming these challenges and refining field service operations, we’re enthusiastic about this new solution. It will automate pivotal field service processes and offer real-time insights, aiming to diminish operational costs, augment satisfaction and loyalty, and enhance both revenue and profit margins.”
The field service management solution is currently available in the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK through Next Technik. Direct sales by NetSuite are expected in the near future.
airSlate Acquires Instapage to Broaden Portfolio
airSlate, a Boston-based provider of business productivity and automation solutions, has acquired Instapage, a San Francisco firm that enables marketers to create personalized landing pages. Financial details of the transaction were not available, but supporting financing is being provided by Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank.
With the acquisition, airSlate will seek to enhance its market opportunities and expand an existing portfolio of business productivity products to include marketing automation solutions.
Led by CEO Borya Shakhnovich, airSlate is a global software as a service (SaaS) technology company known for its PDF editing and eSignature solutions, as well as products such as Workflow Builder for automating workflows and Document Generation for integrating systems. Besides Instapage, airSlate’s other acquisitions include SignNow, an e-signature company; US Legal Forms, the repository of more than 85,000 online state- and industry-specific legal forms; DocHub, a PDF annotator and document signing platform; and pdfFiller, an online PDF editor and document management platform.
airSlate is backed by a number of venture capitalists and corporate investors that include General Catalyst, Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, HighSage Ventures, UiPath Ventures, and G Squared.
NICE Acquires LiveVox to Boost CX Operations
NICE, the New Jersey-based maker of CX software, has entered a definitive agreement to acquire LiveVox, the San Francisco-headquartered provider of a contact center platform.
The combination of NICE’s CXone platform and its advanced digital engagement capabilities, together with LiveVox’s Enlighten, a widely adopted proactive outreach portfolio, will enable organizations to deploy conversational AI on a unified platform on which all interactions converge, helping enterprises around the globe to create proactive, personalized experiences for their end customers.
Related Article: CX Wins for Redpoint Global, NICE, Genesys, Air India, and MoEngage
Barak Eilam, CEO of NICE, said joining forces with LiveVox will produce a strong and broad outreach portfolio. He added, “Today, we are taking another major step in making smart conversational AI a reality. The era of digital engagement is already here, and we are excited to enable organizations to propel their digital engagement and conversational AI forward.”
John DiLullo, CEO of LiveVox, hailed the acquisition as the beginning of a thrilling new chapter for the company. “NICE is an amazing organization, and its breadth, reach and commitment to continuous innovation promise to amplify our growth and the capabilities of the complementary solutions we can bring to market together,” he said.
Under the terms of the merger agreement, LiveVox stockholders will receive $3.74 in cash for each share of LiveVox common stock at the close of the transaction. The merger agreement has already been approved by the boards of directors of NICE and LiveVox, and the acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2024, subject to customary regulatory clearances and closing conditions.
Simpplr Acquires Socrates.ai to Strengthen EX
Employee experience (EX) firm Simpplr has acquired Socrates.ai, the provider of a generative AI-based virtual employee assistant, in a move that will bring together solutions for employee engagement, enablement, and AI-based services.
The result will be a more effective mechanism to support work journeys, regardless of employee location, forming an internal social network that allows employees to create profiles, share content, follow users, and engage in polls or surveys. The product will also enable managers to create employee directories and workspaces that can be tailored to meet the needs of different teams and departments.
Dhiraj Sharma, founder and CEO of Simpplr, said the company wants to improve the EX at firms, support communication teams, and alleviate pressures on IT and human resources (HR) departments to increase employee productivity. Sharma said, “This acquisition underscores our commitment to innovation and unwavering focus on applying AI to solve tangible employee experience problems.”
System and information overload are the top impediments to employee productivity, according to company officials at Redwood City, California-based Simpplr, given how desk workers toggle between applications and websites an average of 1,200 times every day. By adopting virtual assistants such as Socrates.ai, employers can streamline self-service, provide intelligence, and in general help IT and HR to establish and maintain efficient, optimized resources, the company added.
For its part, Socrates.ai integrates content sources, chatbots, enterprise applications, and employee tools that help centralize HR and IT information. Using its conversational interface, employees can accomplish tasks or answer questions without having to switch among multiple applications. The company is based in Silicon Valley, in the town of Woodside, California.
In May, Simpplr secured $70 million in Series D funding, with the investment earmarked for hiring and product R&D, Simpplr CEO Sharma said at the time.
Concentrix and Webhelp Complete Merger
Concentrix Corporation, a leading global provider of CX services and technologies, has closed its merger with business process outsourcing firm Webhelp, and the integration of the two companies is underway. While the combined company finalizes its permanent name, it will operate under the trade name Concentrix + Webhelp. At closing, the transaction was valued at approximately $4 billion, including net debt.
The union positions the combined organization as a global CX leader, with an expanded breadth of generative AI solutions, digital capabilities, and high-value services. The merger also strengthens its end-to-end CX value proposition with a robust, well-balanced global footprint in the industry poised to help brands transform CX and achieve their business goals, executives from both companies declare.
Related Article: Concentrix to Combine with Webhelp in $4.8 Billion Deal
“I am excited to embark on this new journey together and believe that, with our combined strengths, we are uniquely positioned to redefine the industry and design, build, and run the future of CX for our amazing and valued clients,” said Chris Caldwell, CEO of Concentrix + Webhelp.
The company will also welcome two new members to the board of directors: Olivier Duha, cofounder and former CEO of Webhelp; and Nicolas Gheysens, a partner at Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, the company’s largest shareholder following the Concentrix + Webhelp combination.
Author Information
Alex is responsible for writing about trends and changes that are impacting the customer experience market. He had served as Principal Editor at Village Intelligence, a Los Angeles-based consultancy on technology impacting healthcare and healthcare-related industries. Alex was also Associate Director for Content Management at Omdia and Informa Tech, where he produced white papers, executive summaries, market insights, blogs, and other key content assets. His areas of coverage spanned the sectors grouped under the technology vertical, including semiconductors, smart technologies, enterprise & IT, media, displays, mobile, power, healthcare, China research, industrial and IoT, automotive, and transformative technologies.
At IHS Markit, he was Managing Editor of the company’s flagship IHS Quarterly, covering aerospace & defense, economics & country risk, chemicals, oil & gas, and other IHS verticals. He was Principal Editor of analyst output at iSuppli Corp. and Managing Editor of Market Watch, a fortnightly newsletter highlighting significant analyst report findings for pitching to the media. He started his career in writing as an Editor-Reporter for The Associated Press.
